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Oil industry rebel Gull Petroleum looks set to do a brisk trade this weekend, as the only fuel retailer not to raise its prices in the latest round of increases.
While Caltex, Mobil, BP and Shell all put up their prices by 5c and 6c a litre yesterday, Gull said it would hold out until Monday.
The increase comes hard on the heels of US crude oil pushing through the psychological US$100 a barrel barrier for the first time.
Despite claims on Thursday of a watching brief, by yesterday afternoon the four majors had all moved.
Petrol is up 5c a litre to 175.9c for 91 octane and 180.9c for 95, and diesel now costs 6c more a litre at 130.9c.
"That's a huge slap in the face for the motorist coming back from holiday," said Dave Bodger, New Zealand general manager of the Australian family-owned Gull.
He said Gull's minimal overheads meant it could keep prices down until "the last minute".
Westpac chief economist Brendan O'Donovan predicted in the Herald yesterday that, based on the soaring cost of crude oil and the level of the New Zealand dollar, fuel prices would go up by five cents.
Shell spokeswoman Jackie Maitland said in the face of volatility in international crude oil prices, the company had been reviewing prices at the pump more than once a day.
"It was almost inevitable that the costs would eventually flow through."
Automobile Association spokesman Simon Lambourne said it was disappointing that most oil companies had not held off raising prices until after the holidays.
But he said that while New Zealanders could do little about the international market for oil, they could do a lot about fuel consumption.
He advised planning trips to avoid congestion, and going easy on the accelerator: "If you go at 100 [kilometres an hour] not 110, you save 13 per cent of fuel."
Oil was hovering at about US$99 a barrel yesterday. Its march past the US$100 mark on Thursday came after the US Energy Information Administration reported that crude stocks had fallen to a three-year low, while heating oil supplies had also fallen for the eighth consecutive week.
Crude stocks in the United States, the world's top energy consumer, have dropped more than 25 million barrels, or nearly 8 per cent, since early November.
Some analysts said the reluctance of Opec and other key agencies to increase crude supplies into the market, combined with geopolitical turmoil, would keep oil prices at record levels.
* A poll on nzherald.co.nz asked readers whether the price rise had affected their holiday plans. Of the 1163 who responded, 37 per cent it had and 63 per cent said no.
